Baxter Fire Chief Elected President Of UC Fire Chief Council

Baxter Fire Chief Matt White has been elected president of the Upper Cumberland Regional Council of Fire Chiefs.

Fire departments and chiefs from across the region make up the organization that elects officers yearly. White said this will be his first time as president.

“We’re trying to support some things going on,” White said. “One of them is being the training of smaller departments and getting them into a scheduled routine program for training and also the other one we would like to support each other.”

White said the council wants to incorporate an administrative support staff for departments across the region. White said if a community is spread thin responding to a large fire, the staff will be able to assist with commands.

“Between floods, snows and tornadoes, we’ve leaned that we really need to lean on each other with these different departments to survive and get by,” White said. “What happens in our neighborhood may not be happening in the next county over, and we want to be there to support them.”

White said as president, he will lead in educating, training and providing resources for local fire departments. The organization meets quarterly with its next meeting later this month.